LC EPC Inquiry into Ecosystem Decline in Victoria Submission 717

This submission describes a case study in which the decline of 39 threatened species in the eastern Northern Plains is recorded and reasons for their decline were investigated. Threatened of the eastern Northern Plains, 2020 is a pamphlet that provides an overview of the project and describes the plants and places that were assessed (File attached).

More than twenty years ago, as consultants for Goulburn Valley Environment Group (GVEG), we undertook two major assessments of the conservation status of flora and fauna in the Eastern Northern Plains of Victoria, publishing two reports:

Natural Values of the Public Lands Along the Broken, Boosey and Nine Mile Creeks of Northeast Victoria, 1996 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d3987f9db867f0001b1bb82/t/5d7d776f9a3d416fbae148f3/156850367649 5/Natural+Values.pdf

Priorities for Nature Conservation Reservation and Management in the Eastern Northern Plains of Victoria, 1998 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d3987f9db867f0001b1bb82/t/5d7d7930a0accb2d2c9fcdac/156850411967 4/PRIORITIES+FOR+NATURE+CONSERVATION.pdf

In the years since, many of the recommended changes to conservation status have been achieved, notably the creation of Barmah National Park, Lower Goulburn National Park, Warby-Ovens National Park and Broken-Boosey State Park. As well, many practical conservation actions such as fencing, woody weed control, pest control, planting and signage were undertaken by community groups, ParksVictoria and the Goulburn Broken Catchment Authority on these sites over that time.

In 2017 GVEG received a Victorian Government Biodiversity On-ground Action Grant – Community and Volunteer (BOA2017CA373) to look at how the threatened flora populations identified in those 1990s studies had responded to the changed land tenure and changed management.

The 2017-2019 study focussed on the fate of 157 threatened plant populations at the 22 best quality sites.

Of these,

• 54 populations had disappeared (32 of these populations were palatable species dependent on seasonal moisture – it is likely that some might re-appear in a wet year, but because of climate change their future is bleak) 1 of 10 LC EPC Inquiry into Ecosystem Decline in Victoria Submission 717 • 36 populations were still present but had declined in numbers • 38 had maintained their numbers (these were mostly populations of just two species) • Only 28 populations had increased their numbers.

In other words, 57% had disappeared or declined, 24% had stayed the same and only 18% had improved despite many of the sites changing from Crown land reserves grazed under licence to State Park and Nature Conservation Reserve management.

Because we assessed multiple populations of species at different sites, we could compare the consequences of different management actions.

Overall, improvements occurred where:

• Stock grazing was removed. • Sites were fenced from stock and vehicles.

Declines happened where:

• Stock grazing continued, causing native species to be replaced with pasture species. • Vehicles had access and crushed vegetation. • Rubbish was dumped introducing weeds and providing harbour for pest animals. • Earthworks occurred - the construction of roads, drains, flood levees and mobile phone towers, the installation and maintenance of underground services, track-making and waste soil dumping all led to the permanent replacement of native vegetation with weeds. • Changes to hydrology occurred – swamp drainage, diversion of water from roads and paddocks, unseasonal irrigation flows in creeks and leakage from irrigation channels all encouraged weed invasion. • Weed invasion went unchecked and out-competed native plants. • Dense regeneration of eucalypts occurred after grazing was removed. The natural spacing of Grey Box and River Red Gums in grassy woodlands is about 10 per hectare (DELWP Benchmark for Vegetation Quality Assessment). When dense saplings (often thousands per hectare) are not thinned they eliminate ground layer vegetation with heavy litter and fierce competition for moisture. • Kangaroo, deer, hare and rabbit grazing had high impacts at a few sites, but generally there were fewer kangaroos across the landscape. • Camping with horses occurred and plants were eaten or crushed and weeds and nutrients were introduced in their droppings.

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Increasing the stresses to threatened plants over that time were also two broad-scale changes:

• Climate change. During this period the Millenium Drought occurred and temperatures steadily increased (half of the years reached more than 1 degree above average and last year was more than two) and • The change from stock grazing to cropping on the plains with the consequent loss of trees and introduction of large volumes of chemicals (fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, rodenticides) to the broader landscape. It has also become common across the region for cropping farmers to remove roadside vegetation with herbicide, making the remnant vegetation surviving on public land even more rare.

On the basis of our observations we recommended a number of actions that would be required to secure these populations of threatened plants: • Fencing of sites to prevent timber removal, damage from vehicles, rubbish dumping, stock grazing, horse camping • Control of woody and perennial weeds • Control of annual weeds and excessive eucalypt regeneration using fire • Noticeboards to explain the values of the sites.

The managers of these public lands (ParksVictoria, Moira Shire, DELWP) expressed concern at our threatened plant findings and have shown a willingness to take actions to improve conservation outcomes.

Unfortunately they were unable to achieve much. I have tried to summarise why I think this is the case. 1. A lack of allocated funding for conservation work – specifically the care that threatened species require. 2. A lack of dedicated trained staff to supervise or undertake conservation work. 3. Some short-term funding from other programs was directed towards improvements at these reserves, but little of what was required was achieved. 4. The nature of most conservation funding - short term, competitive, directed towards the community or overseen by individuals without detailed conservation knowledge - means it cannot be effective. Only long- term work by staff who can get to know the sites they look after, based on research and using adaptive management can achieve the improvements required. 5. Some reserve management categories meant that conservation needs were seen to conflict with recreational needs. For example, DELWP would not allow the fencing of a Streamside Reserve and a Wildlife Reserve to protect Nationally Endangered plant populations from off-road vehicles as it was seen to conflict with recreational user needs. 6. An inability to utilise fire for conservation purposes. Ecologically appropriate fire is an essential tool for restoration in grasslands and grassy woodlands as well as a basic management requirement. Parks Victoria 3 of 10 LC EPC Inquiry into Ecosystem Decline in Victoria Submission 717 staff are not permitted to undertake the many small-scale cool burns required to reduce weeds and leaf litter and to promote the germination of native species. Such burns would have the added benefit of reducing volumes of fine fuel and producing more green matter over summer, which could greatly reduce the risk of wildfire on public land. 7. Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) are reluctant to allow others such as the CFA or indigenous fire crews to utilise fire on their land. 8. Because FFMV are set up to conduct burns for risk reduction purposes, their burns tend to be too large, too hot and involve the construction of breaks to the permanent detriment of native vegetation. They do not have the resources to conduct the many burns required each season in our many small reserves and tend to focus on locations where the perceived risks of wildfire are greatest, rather on where the conservation needs are greatest.

Under the current landscape and climate stresses and without active protection and management, I believe there can be no doubt that the current losses of threatened plants will continue and accelerate. An urgent injection of funds and staff and changes to rules to allow ecological burning will be essential if we are to save our rapidly disappearing nature.

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The eastern Northern Plains of Victoria were once entirely covered with grassyLC woodlands EPC Inquiry dominated into Ecosystem by Grey Decline Box River in Victoria Red Gum forests and Submission 717 woodlands grew along the rivers and in the wetlands. There were also treeless grasslands in some areas.

Before invasion, all these grassy types of vegetation were maintained by frequent burning at low intensity by the indigenous people. They mani- pulated the country with fire for many purposes such as to protect old trees and fire-sensitive vegetation from wildfires, to stimulate the growth of food and medicine plants, to provide forage for meat animals or to prevent the growth of too many trees and .

Because the eastern Northern Plains are ideal for agriculture 99% of the original vegetation has now been cleared. Most of the remaining 1% is on public land such as conservation reserves, recreation reserves, rail reserves, stream frontages and roadsides.

Not surprisingly, these grasslands and woodlands are amongst the most threatened ecosystems in . The Australian government lists

Grey Box Grassy Woodlands of South-eastern Australia as Endangered & Natural Grasslands of the Murray Valley Plains as Critically Endangered.

The little that’s left has all been degraded by activities such as stock grazing, timber cutting, rubbish dumping, recreational use, the diversion of water to irrigation and the lack of fire. Pests and weeds are now common everywhere and the hotter and drier climate places additional stresses on the lives of native plants and animals. Many of those that depend on these bushland fragments are threatened too.

In 1994 & 1995 GVEG surveyed the largest area of grassy woodland left - the frontages of the Broken, Boosey and Nine-Mile Creeks. We found most of it to be of high conservation value. GVEG asked the Victorian government to change these areas (and other valuable remnants) from grazing lands to nature conservation reserves. GVEG also organised fencing to protect some of the most vulnerable vegetation.

In 2017 & 2018 GVEG re-surveyed the most important sites for threat- ened plants to see how they had fared over the last two decades.

The results were disturbing. 22 species had declined or disappeared with little prospect of return. 14 species could not be found because they failed to make any growth over two very dry seasons. They might return in a wet year but the threat to them will clearly be heightened by climate change. Only 18 of the 54 threatened species had maintained or increased their numbers and that was mostly due to active inter- ventions such as fencing and weed control. GVEG is now working with land managers to find ways of better protecting our threatened plants so they can survive into the future.

You can help by sharing this story and

by lending a hand6 of at10 your local site. ChangesLC EPC Inquiry to threatened into Ecosystem Decline plant in Victoria populations at 22 public land sites in the easternSubmission Northern Plains: 717 1995 to 2019

Abbreviations: 1 = site where population present, 1? = site Population increased

where formerly present, ENP = eastern Northern Plains, Population similar Vic = Victoria, N, S, E, W = north, south, east, west E = nationally endangered (EPBC), L = Listed (FFG Act 1988), Population declined e, v, r = endangered, vulnerable or rare in Victoria (DELWP), Population absent k = insufficiently known (DELWP), d = rare or declining in the Population absent but region (GVEG), n = no longer considered threatened (DELWP) might re-appear if wet

Name & status Current range Likely causes of change Buloke Broadscale decline Surviving where seedlings Allocasuarina leuhmannii L due to cropping not grazed Plains Joyweed Alternanthera sp. 1 k Poorly known Not apparent - too dry Spiny-fruit Saltbush ENP has only Atriplex spinibractea e populations in Vic Removal of stock grazing Corkscrew Spear-grass Widespread but still Austrostipa setacea d "rather rare" Not apparent - too dry Yellow-tongue Daisy Scattered across Vic Surviving where not grazed & Brachyscome chrysoglossa v but rare without weed competition Lobe-seed Daisy Brachyscome dentata d Rare in E Vic Surviving where not grazed Inland Daisy Very rare - only 2 Brachyscome trachycarpa v other records in Vic Weed competition Blue Grass-lily Only a few Caesia calliantha d populations Weed competition Blue Burr-daisy Scattered across Vic Surviving where not grazed Calotis cuneifolia r but rare or damaged by vehicles Yellow Burr-daisy Scattered across Vic Surviving where not grazed Calotis lappulacea r but rare or damaged by vehicles Rough Burr-daisy d Scattered across W Vic Surviving where not grazed Calotis scabiosifolia var. scabiosifolia but rare or damaged by vehicles Clustered Everlasting Only a few sites in Stock grazing, vehicle Chrysocephalum semipapposum d ENP damage Grey Billy-buttons Scattered across Vic, Weed competition, Craspedia canens e L very rare drought Small Scurf-pea 11 out of 13 pops in Grazing, vehicle damage, Cullen parvum e L E the ENP now absent tree regeneration Emu Foot Vehicle damage, tree Cullen tenax e Generally rare regeneration, drought

Small Water-ribbons Rare - ENP is the Not apparent - too dry Cycnogeton dubium r stronghold Yelka Very rare - only 4 Cyperus victoriensis k other records in Vic Not apparent - too dry Slender Tick-trefoil Poorly known, very Herbivore grazing, Desmodium varians k rare in ENP drought Late-flowering Flax-lily Restricted to ENP & Dianella tarda v central N Vic Surviving where not grazed Cotton Panic Rare in Vic. Only 1 Digitaria brownii k known pop in ENP Surviving where not grazed Golden Moths Diuris chryseopsis d Very rare in ENP Weed competition Pale Spike-rush Rare - only in N Vic & Eleocharis pallens k near Melb Not apparent - too dry Southern Cane-grass Now more Eragrostis infecunda widespread Reduced stock grazing Amulla Only 1 population in debilis e Vic Reduced stock grazing Berrigan More common in W Vic, But many populations Eremophila longifolia d rare in E Vic unhealthy 7 of 10 Long Eryngium Not apparent - too dry Eryngium paludosum v Rare - only N central Vic Spreading Eutaxia More common in W Vic, Eutaxia microphyllaLC EPC Inquiryvar. diffusa into Ecosystemuncommon Decline in E Vic in VictoriaReduced stock grazing Submission 717 Swamp Star Very rare in Vic & rare in Hypoxis exilis v NSW Not apparent - too dry Woolly Buttons More common in W Vic, Leiocarpa panaetioides d rare in E Vic Reduced stock grazing Austral Lotus Scattered in Vic, many ENP Herbivore grazing, tree Lotus australis k populations gone regeneration Leafless Bluebush Rare in NW Vic, only 2 But no regeneration has Maireana aphylla r plants in ENP occurred Hairy Bluebush Uncommon in NW Vic, Weed competition, stock Maireana pentagona d rare in ENP grazing Murniong Widespread in Vic, very Weed competition, Microseris walteri d rare in ENP herbivore grazing Smooth Minuria Uncommon in central N Surviving where not grazed, Minuria integerrima r Vic reduced by drought Minnie Daisy Scattered in NW Vic, very Vehicle damage, tree Minuria leptophylla d rare in ENP regeneration Waterbush ENP the Vic stronghold. Increased only where montanum r Most populations small protected from grazing Slender Water-milfoil e L ENP has only Vic Myriophyllum gracile var. lineare populations Not apparent - too dry Native Millet Uncommon in central Vic, Not apparent - too dry, Panicum decompositum d rare in ENP readily grazed Hairy Panic Widespread in Vic but only Not apparent - too dry, Panicum effusum d occasional readily grazed Pepper Grass Not apparent - too dry, Panicum laevinode v Rare in central N Vic readily grazed Coolabah Grass ENP has the only Vic Not apparent - too dry, Panicum queenslandicum e population readily grazed Murchison Leek Orchid e Only population anywhere Prasophyllum sp.aff. hygrophyllum possibly now extinct Drought Hairy Tails Widespread in W Vic, rare Ptilotus erubescens L d in ENP Earthworks Feather Heads Widespread in W Vic, rare Ptilotus macrocephalus d in ENP Reduced grazing Lambs Tails Scattered in W Vic, rare in Grazing, weed Ptilotus semilanatus d ENP competition Golden Billy-buttons Scattered in W Vic, rare in Weed competition, Pycnosorus chrysanthus d ENP drought Straw Wallaby-grass Rare in NE Vic, very rare in Rytidosperma richardsonii v ENP Herbicide spraying Narrow-leaf Sida Occasional in NW Vic, rare Sida trichopoda d in ENP Reduced grazing Southern Swainson-pea Scattered in Vic, possibly But threatened by tree Swainsona behriana r L the only population in ENP regeneration Slender Darling-pea Very rare in N Vic, possibly But threatened by Swainsona murrayana V e L the only population in ENP weed competition Silky Swainson-pea Weed competition, Swainsona sericea v L Rare in N Vic, rare in ENP tree regeneration Leafy Templetonia Uncommon in W & central Herbivore grazing, Templetonia stenophylla n Vic vehicle damage Rye Beetle-grass Scattered in Vic, rare in Tripogonella loliiformis r ENP Not apparent - too dry

Broad-leaf Early Nancy Uncommon in W Vic, rare in Not apparent - too dry Wurmbea latifolia ssp. vanessae d ENP We pay respects to the traditional owners of these lands & their land management wisdom.

This project was funded by a Victorian Government Biodiversity On-ground Action8 of 10Grant BOA2017CA373.

www.gveg-enviro.com